Category Archives: Student Life

Once the clocks go back one hour marking the end of Daylight Savings, that’s really when the last trace of any summer/nice weather/good vibes weather goes away. The rain seems murderous and non-stop, and it constantly reminds me of all the work that I have yet to do.

…Whoops.

Yeah, countless weekends have now passed, Thanksgiving has passed (it was wonderful), Halloween’s passed, and that extra hour has also passed and throughout this whole time I seem to be having some difficulty getting any work or pre-readings done.

I do, however, seem to have no problem grabbing Nanaimo bars and Triple Chocolate Brownies (my goodness. They are truly un-real. WOW. Chocolate heaven.) half-price at the Delly on Fridays, enjoying excellent coffee at coffee shops in Downtown (haha that’s so hipster, even though I’m totally not), and grabbing tons and tons of food from all walks of life in Vancouver. So just generally my life is filled with eating, drinking coffee for fun (I don’t run on caffeine), and staring in dismay at the rain outside. Meanwhile, my Psychology, Linguistics and Latin books gather dust as they sit a lonely life on my desk, never to be read until the night before a midterm.

Just kidding. But seriously.

I wonder how some people manage to get their game on and knock out a few good hours of studying. Meanwhile, I’m taking breaks after every section in my reading (Hey. Short attention span.)

I have a long week ahead as I finish the remainder of my midterms and look forward to a couple more assignments as the term winds down. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? We have almost four more weeks to finals! GAAAAAAAH. WHERE DID THE TIME GO.

So this post had absolutely no direction, but at this point I’ve accepted that I’ve gone truly insane. Haha. Let’s end this with some awesome food pictures that I’ve taken the past couple weeks.

Can you believe how delicious this beef noodle looks? Wowww. SO. GOOD.

And this coffee from Blenz. I’m more of a Starbucks person normally, but this was out of this world.

There’s an incredible excitement stepping onto campus again after four months. It’s crazy to see how much on campus has changed in just four months, and equally wonderful to be reminded of the things that haven’t: the past week has been filled with the familiar sights, sounds and tastes of Pi R Squared, Starbucks, SUB, Buchanan, CIRS, IKB, and all the other places I’ve frequented so far on campus since I left for the summer. I am always remind how gorgeous and beautiful the campus is and just how lucky I am to be going to school here. Grabbing my UPass, getting a Blue Chip Cookie, seeing the poster sale back on, checking out the festivities at IMAGINE, running to and from different buildings (I have a crazy trek this year! CIRS to Buch to ESB, no kidding!) and grabbing two quick slices of pizza at Pi R Squared are just some of the simple things I simply missed while I was gone during the summer. Anyways, I digress – it’s wonderful to be back.

With school starting, however, also come the hoards of reading assignments that come in (I’m ALREADY behind, can you imagine that?! It’s like the fourth day of school!), selling and buying textbooks, seeing old friends and classmates from your old classes in your new classes, overcoming the awkwardness of saying hello to new people in your new classes, and the daily struggle to run to catch (and fit in) the 99 or the 43. Good times.

Overall, it is so great to be back for another year and equally wonderful to now have declared and focussing on a direction for the rest of my education here. Where that will lead me, only time will tell, but as of now I am just incredibly excited and it really should be an awesome year! (UBC PSYCH FTW!)

WHAT? In the blink of any eye my first year at UBC has ended. I simply cannot believe how fast this first year passed by… considering I didn’t seem to have done much at all. But yes, I remember sitting down and writing an excruciatingly hard calculus final yesterday at the SRC and yes, I believe that was my last exam! Now the waiting begins.

This past year has been one of many learning experiences for me, both inside and outside of school. I took my first steps in experiencing the “real” world and I know I still have so much to see of that. I learned the increasing importance of time management and prioritization, and also learned the true reality of how hard earning money is with my first job. I learned about being independent, even if just partially, as my school and work schedules differed from the rest of my family and I was often forced to figure out a lot of things by myself – like transportation, food, alarms (oh, the dreaded alarm clock!). There was sincerely much to be learned and experienced in simply this first year, I can’t imagine how it would be like in the future.

I learned that as much as it is important to succeed in an education, it is just as important to secure friendships, reach out, and be involved. I learned the importance of having enough humility to ask for help, and the willingness to offer that helping hand if someone is there to ask.

I learned to look for objectives when acting, I learned how to derive and integrate (the latter… only sort of), I close read about vampires, food, werewolves and drew meaning from Old English passages, I learned the origins of language and English language roots, I learned about the large complexity that is the human brain, about learning, stress, coping, about mental disease, about social interactions and personality; I learned the basics of the economy.

To say simply that this year was a year that was packed full of learning and gaining new insights would be an understatement. It was a year that was simply very enjoyable and eye-opening to say the least, and makes me ever more glad that I chose UBC.

This summer I’m looking forward to working a little more and also spending LOTS of time relaxing and catching up with friends. I’ll blog once in a while, but probably will be back full force in September. Here’s to the four month summer! (And to those who are taking the summer term – best of luck!)

The past month has FLEW by and it’s unbelievable how fast time flies. This term so far I’ve found myself juggling my time between full-time school MWF and part-time work on TThSa and homework in all the spare gaps in between. (No idea how I’ve been doing it, seriously.) I’ve had very little free time (and hence I even forgot about the Blog Squad social on Monday…! I’m sorry Marshall, Houston, Samantha and all the wonderful people over there! Seriously!!). I think I’ve officially gone cray cray.

AAAAAAAND as we speak midterm results are flying in from last week and more coming up this week. I can’t believe how fast midterms are coming up – pointing in particular direction at my lack of reading anything course-related at all this term. My brain has been going into panic mode (WHY CAN’T YOU READ ANY FASTER BRAIN WE HAVE HUNDREDS OF PAGES TO GO)

Wow. So I know I haven’t been blogging for an INSANELY long amount of time (November to be exact) but the past few months have simply been insane, filled with catching up with work *cough* procrastination *cough*, studying for exams, learning the guitar for the first time, and getting into a part time job. To call it insane is an understatement! I consider it a miracle to even have SURVIVED first term, and even do relatively well given the amount of work I put into this (which comprised of the ten hours in the last week of term where I sat at my desk panicking and pumping out essays/writing/studying and everything of that sort). I digress.

Christmas and the break was a great time to see everyone again, and it’s simply insane to see all your old friends arrive from all sorts of airports back home, and to see all your new friends go to YVR and board planes to go to all sorts of airports around the world. I’m definitely grateful for all the time I was able to spend with everyone who was here and I’m thankful for the break I got. But now I’m sad it’s over.

I’m taking a full five course load this term on top of working part time on my off days (I ACTUALLY have off days, I’m going to do this for this term and see how well it goes!). This also means all of my courses are jam packed onto Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Which in a way I think is great but in a way will probably be a new source of my stress and pain and sadness and everything that comes with all of that 😛 #sadlife

This term I think I’m going to try and get on top of my readings and work earlier on so I won’t have that little ten hour panic session in the last week of term. Granted, a lot more work this term is due earlier, so I don’t think I’ll even get that excuse. LOL. But I’ll definitely keep y’all posted!

Wishing you all the best in this second term and I promise promise promise that I will try to post a lot more often. Until then, cheers and into the lecture halls we go!

Yes it has been an insane amount of time since I last blogged and some of you may be wondering if I was still alive. I am in fact alive and well, not that anyone probably noticed. AANNNNYYYWWAAAAYS.

This morning I finished my last midterm of my second wave (as I call it) and am suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of satisfaction and relief but mixed with a slightly big feeling of disappointment.

This past month I’ve been trying to get back into the groove by doing as much as I could and studying. Although most of the time this plan didn’t go very well, I did become a lot more productive than what I was in September. Still, I don’t think I had the motivation to do as well as I would’ve hoped in my midterms. These past few weeks have been absolutely insane and the relief comes from the fact that it’s finally over. In a couple weeks I have a term paper due and then five finals… which is insane because term ends in just three weeks. As cliché as it sounds, these past few months, my first months in university did indeed fly incredibly fast as I scrambled to make sense of it all and adjust. I guess I’m doing a relatively good job right now but again we’ll really see how well I turn out by the end of finals in December. Then Christmas… *sighs in content*

Some things I learned these past few months: and yes people have been telling me over and over again I just don’t really seem to be getting the jist of it (I’m slowly getting it)
1. Eat breakfast. Especially if you’re like me, having large solid blocks until 12 or 1. Your stomach will suffer which in turn will make your brain suffer which in turn will make you suffer. In general. Just eat something before class starts. Or bring something. But I’m sure you guys all know that by now haha.
2. Don’t put readings and assignments off. University really emphasizes the large amount of independence you have but that independence is abused so easily. The work does indeed pile up an a monstrous pace and before you know it you have mounds of work to do that you didn’t do before (cough. Thomas. cough)
3. Don’t procrastinate your studying. This is related to the previous point, this week I had a midterm late Thursday night and then one right after on Friday morning (This morning…meh). As you can imagine, I put it off and didn’t end up having a tremendous amount of time to study for this morning. And as you can imagine, I just felt absolutely terrible going into the exam room this morning because I didn’t know anything, no joke.
4. Sleep. I’m not even kidding, this is the only point on the list that I actually did well the past three months. Which may or may not be a good thing but I’m not gonna try guessing. I learned in Psych that your brain needs this time to sort memories and encode these memories to long term memory. So it’s better to sleep than to cram late. If not in bed, sleep on the bus like me. 😀 If you’re commuting that is.
5. Coffee. Coffee. Coffeeeeeee. This isn’t a lesson I learned, just something marvellous that I just discovered. I KNOW RIGHT? Late! Haha. I’m getting my Starbucks gold card in a couple weeks and I am excittteeeed!! 😀

So obviously I’m not really here to give advice, just to say things that I’ve learned past few months. And obviously I have learned all of these lessons the hard way and now I wish I didn’t. Haha.

BUT IT’S FRIDAY! Lots of catch up work to do this weekend. But thought I’d post anyways to let you all know I’m still alive and well 😉

The past week, I have been increasingly overwhelmed of the fact that midterms were approaching so fast and also of the fact that I didn’t really do as much as I would’ve liked to prepare for them. My first two midterms of the year were on Friday, and I think (well I hope) I did relatively well. I do have to mention that it is incredibly difficult to do well when you are falling behind on all the reading and homework, which is a position that I would rather not be in this early in the school year. But unfortunately, my brain is still in summer mode and I don’t even know how many more cups of Starbucks Mocha (wow… those are REALLY good) my brain needs in order to stay awake and realize that school has started over a month ago and that it should really start functioning properly in order for my year to go at least relatively well. SO WAKE UP BRAIN.

And the second thing I wanted to say is how AMAZING it is to walk through the SUB in the morning from the bus loop while the rain is pelting down and the wind is blasting everywhere, to smell the AMAZING smell of coffee drifting from the Starbucks and basically hear the coffee scream, “COME GET SOME TOM, YOU KNOW YOU WANNA”. That’s when I realize that I do want to and I scan my card, leaving a couple minutes later with a steaming mocha or pumpkin spice latte in my hand. It takes all of my willpower to walk away without one, but the thought of having to refill my card more often is enough motivation for me to not. Haha.

As ironic as it sounds, I remember a few years back when I was still in high school saying that I will NEVER, EVER drink coffee. But I have underestimated the power of the Starbucks card and I have also underestimated how draining University would be. So here am I, sitting early in my lecture hall with a steaming cup of White Chocolate mocha beside me. After all, it’s the only thing that really helps me wake up nowadays. Yikes :1

Now people may consider me insane for saying this, but the reality is that I love the rain – probably because I have spent the past 18 years of my life in this beautiful city. And when it rains, there is a certain… excitement and nostalgia I feel towards it that I can’t really describe. But long story made short, although I love the sunny days (and the weather has been INCREDIBLE here in Vancouver past few months!), there is something that makes me very happy inside to see the rain fall again.

Mostly, that gives me the time to enjoy my hot chocolates and Boston Creams again, (and now this is turning into a Tim Hortons commercial) and that is EXACTLY what I did in my break today. The cold weather lets me have much warmer drinks and more chocolate-y treats, I find. It also reminds me of Christmas which is now a short three months away (yes, I start counting down in like August, and yes, Christmas is my absolute favourite season if you haven’t figured that out already :D)

Now there really wasn’t point in this blog post other than the fact that it is the time for Boston Creams and hot chocolates and hot coffee and pumpkin spice lattes. But I guess my message here is to find something positive about every negative situation. Maybe then you’ll find that you’ll love the rain as much as you love the sun here ^^

Until next time, I’ll be enjoying my hot chocolate at Tim Hortons. Cheers!

There are times when you become numb and you feel like every inch of your body is screaming in pain and every ounce of energy spent. There are times when you feel all hope is gone and all efforts wasted.

Then, I was running.

There are days when I feel like I simply want to give up, to give in to the obvious fact that I can never make it. The effort is exhausting, and when I think of the fact that no one basically cares if I make it or not, it motivates me to go on. But what for?

Everything around me is a blur as I sweat vigorously and my little feet pound the pavement, each step heavier than the next. Each step convincing me that I should just give up. No one cares. My breathing becomes increasingly rapid as I frantically continue. I tell myself giving up is not an option. But in situations like this, is trying even worth it? The pain, the effort, the heart?

With dying hope and increasing pain, the time keeps ticking on. Time makes cowards of us all; constricting us, limiting us, distracting us. My chest feels like it is on fire as it burns with pain. I find myself asking… “what is this all for? The glory? The relief? The exercise?”

My sack with my belongings continues to bounce on my back as I run faster and faster. It feels like an extra burden I have to carry on top of everything else I am suffering. It is pain. Some days I wish I could rip it off, get rid of that burden, run free, go on without worries.

The Tower. All you need to go is the Tower.

I climb stairs, I go down stairs, frantically searching for my destination. I am ready to break and my breath is harsh and quick. Why am I doing this? Why does it have to happen to me? I look at everyone else… they’re all… different. They don’t suffer from my problem. They don’t need to. They don’t have to. They don’t choose to.

With a final effort, I lunge into that beautiful wooden contraption called a desk as my English professor walks in. Too close for comfort.

She already said she didn’t mind if people were late.

But I fight my fight. For the ultimate journey is the ten minute journey from from one end of the UBC campus. To the other.

/end post

NOTES: This post was meant to be satirical. I am not actually suffering. (But it is a crazy journey.)

So, now that I’ve settled down quite a bit from all the crazy things that have happened past few days, including:

-Buying a purple UBC hoodie the second I got on campus the first time
-Dropping in and out of classes end of August and September even though I had an early registration time (DON’T DO THIS BY THE WAY GUYS). That’s the price of changing your mind during the summer!
-Gawking at how expensive all the textbooks are and then reluctantly lining up for around twenty minutes at the Bookstore to pay for them because a) I need them and b) I was too lazy to search online for used ones and c) it was cray cray season at the Bookstore.
-Meeting tons of crazy awesome people but still managing to not manage to remember their names
-Taking bus routes excessively to see if the 43, 84 or 99 gets me home faster
-Searching high and far for the cheapest place to eat. Then, settling for McDonalds because I need to gain weight.
-Meeting up with my high school friends because I feel lonely
-Taking the 99 B-Line to the University Village (one stop) because I’m too lazy to walk. Get judge-y looks from everyone on the bus as you get off one stop from the UBC bus loop.
-Using way to much money at the SUB Poster Sale
-Running frantically from CIRS to BUCH every M, W, and F because you don’t want to be late
-Searching for almost half an hour on the first day for a Starbucks (Yeah, more food!) and then realizing there’s one right in the SUB. *facepalm*
-Reading UBC Compliments, UBC Confessions, UBC Overheard, and other UBC things excessively and dreaming endlessly of the day I turn up on Compliments. 😛
and finally,
-NOT reading much of the reading homework I was assigned despite my best efforts.

Model student, I know. 😛 *covers face in shame*

Anyways, this blog post was actually here to discuss the amazing and yet head-hurting idea of the four hour gap that I now possess on Fridays after all the rubble and chaos has cleared from course registration. Yeah, I now have a gap from 10-2 on Fridays, and I decided that it is a time to remain on campus because the commute home and back would certainly not be worth it! 😛

For all those who have a similar predicament like me (WE SHOULD MEET UP 😀 No, like seriously.) I’ve kind of drafted up a list (YAY ANOTHER LIST :D) of things I have done so far and some things that may be cool to try! 😛

-Play Candy Crush for the four hours straight, switching from phone to computer and back. (I have not done four hours straight, to keep that clear :D)
-Go on a bus ride to the University Village (and get judge-y looks from everyone)
-Walk to the University Village!
-Find a bubble tea place (By the way, I STILL have not found one! Where is everyone getting their BBT, it’s NOT FAIR D,:)
-Take a little walk around campus
-Stare into the windows of lectures creepily and see if anyone notices.
-Don’t quote me for the above, I haven’t tried it yet.
-Wear sunglasses and walk around campus with the “I’m pretty much a big deal” attitude
-Go home (sad face for me)
-Sleep
-Eat
-Text your friends rapidly to see if they’re in class, and if they’re not, to ask if they want to meet up. If they are, ask if they want to meet up anyways.
-Exercise… maybe? Naw, I won’t do that. I get enough running from CIRS to BUCH.
-…

I’ve run out of ideas. Funny, this blog idea sounded a lot better in my head. It isn’t really exciting at all. Haha.